Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm. Welcome to Week 14. Week 14 is NOT an egg week. Happy Constitution Day!
Fall, one of my favorite seasons. Cool nights and warm days. I do believe the leaves are slowly starting
to change color. The days are definitely
starting to get shorter. Last night I
took the dogs for a walk around 7:30 and by the time we got back to the house
the sun was down and darkness was almost upon us. The shorter days are the downside to
fall. As the sun falls in the sky and
the day length shortens, our crops grow and ripen slower and slower.
Speaking of ripening.
We have our fingers crossed that our last planting of eggplant will
ripen. They are growing and maturing oh
so slowly – frost may get to them before we have harvestable fruit! Our tomatoes are still going strong, although
we are starting to see some disease, as is expected this late in the
season. Greens are still growing and
being picked. We have peppers in the
field and are trying to hold off a bit on harvest to allow them to gain some
size and color.
We are busy still doing some late season planting. These plants will go in our unheated
greenhouse and as well as in our fields.
Those in the fields will be covered with plastic for late fall and early
spring harvest. In the past we have had
greens to harvest until almost Christmas and then in early March everything
starts growing again and we can do more harvest of the overwintered
plants. It always amazes me that plants
can withstand the cold winter and start growing again early spring!
A note on last week’s pack.
We do occasionally have to make substitutions of items on your pick
list. This was evident last week for those of you who chose spaghetti
squash. Our harvested spaghetti squash
is stored in our barn. When Farmer Don
went to collect what he needed for pack on Monday he found that these squash
had not stored well. Many were already
rotten and others were starting to exhibit some suspicious spots. Rather than try and sort through them, he
made the decision to not give any out. Therefore
anyone who ordered spaghetti squash received butternut squash in its
place. We apologize if you had a menu
for the week based on spaghetti squash and we hope you can use and enjoy the
butternut.
New on this week’s availability, look for additional winter
squash, including pie pumpkins and butternut squash. In the near future look for sweet
potatoes. We will dig our sweet potatoes
first and will later purchase some from our friends at Landisdale Farm. Just a side note, we do not cure our sweet
potatoes, so they will not store and will need to be used quickly. Landisdale, on the other hand, have the
correct facilities to cure their sweets and theirs will store for months. We will also be offering bulk cases of
Landisdale Farm sweet potatoes. Watch
your email for information on purchasing a case of sweets to enjoy all winter
long!
I have some good farm news!
The past few days I have been seeing monarch butterflies! This is exciting as their populations have
been falling in recent years. In fact
last year, I don’t think I saw any, no adults or larvae. Last year I walked to one of our upper fields
daily to observe a patch of milkweed.
Milkweed is the food source for Monarch caterpillars, but did not see
even on caterpillar. I have not been
checking our milkweed this year, but am encouraged to be seeing adults as they
start their yearly migration south.
Farmer Don reports it was great to be back at market! He came back both Saturday and Sunday excited
to have been able to once again be behind the table meeting customers and
talking sustainable food production. He
even got to pass out heirloom tomato samples, one of his favorite market
activities! He will again be at the Back
Mountain Market in Dallas on Saturday and the Mountain Top Market on
Sunday. If you happen to be at either
market, be sure to stop by and say hello!
You know what market talk means. The end to another newsletter! Until next week, in the words of Farmer Don,
be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies!
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